"Um--yes, I s"pose so," answered Polly, wrinkling up her face.
"Eat your own breakfast, Joe, and not stop to think of what other people have. Da-_vid!_""
"You said "things,"" said Joel, severely, "and you only told me mouldy old bread, Polly Pepper! What else?"
"O dear, I don"t know."
"You _said_----"
"I mean--well, cold potatoes, for one thing. I s"pose most everybody has potatoes. Now eat your breakfast, Joey Pepper.
Those are things. Eat your breakfast this minute!"
When Polly spoke in that tone, the three little Peppers knew they must obey. Joel ducked his head over his bowl of mush, and began to hurry the spoonfuls as fast as he could into his mouth.
"I must go up and see what is the matter with David," said Polly, preparing to run up the stairs. Just at this moment he appeared coming slowly down. "Oh, here you are!" cried Polly, brightly, running over to the old stove to dish out his bowl of mush. "Now, Davie, fly at your breakfast, "cause I"ve got to sew all the morning just as hard as ever I can."
III
DEACON BROWN"S NAIL PILE
"Now, boys," said Polly, as Joel pushed back his chair, "I want you to help me, that is, as soon as Davie has finished his breakfast."
"Oh, that"s too bad," grumbled Joel, loudly, "when we got all our kindlings chopped yesterday, an" there ain"t anything else to do. You know you said we could play to-day, Polly Pepper!"
"I didn"t say all day; but of course you can," replied Polly, with a fine scorn, "if you don"t _want_ to help, Joel. I"m sure the little brown house can get along without a boy who isn"t glad to make it as nice as he possibly can."
The idea of the little brown house getting along without him made Joel aghast at once, and he stood quite still. Davie laid down his spoon, and got out of his chair quickly.
"What is it, Polly?" he cried, the pink color all over his cheek.
"Dear me!" cried Polly, merrily, "the very idea of a boy trying to help who hasn"t finished his breakfast. Go back and eat every bit of that mush and mola.s.ses, Davie dear; then, says I, we"ll see what you can do."
"I"ll be through in just a minute, Polly." David ran back and clambered into his chair, plying his spoon so fast that Polly cried in dismay, "Oh, Davie, you"ll choke yourself!"
"No, I won"t," said Davie, with a very red face, and swallowing hard, "it"s all slipping down. There, see, Polly. I"m all through; truly I am." He got out of his chair again, and ran up to her.
"So you are," said Polly, glancing approvingly at the bare bowl.
"Well now, I"ll tell you, Davie, what you can do. You know that pile of old nails that Deacon Brown said Ben might have? Well, "tisn"t nice, you know, to play all day, so you may pick over some of "em, and get the good ones out. Ben will be so surprised, even if you don"t get but a few ready."
"I"m going to work all the morning at "em," declared little Davie, gladly, hopping off toward the door.
"No, I don"t want you to work but a little while," said Polly, decisively, and picking up the breakfast dishes to wash. "You can have most all to-day to play in. And then some other day, when there isn"t any other work to do, you can pick over some more; and pretty soon, before you know it, they"ll all be done, and Ben"ll be so surprised, for they"ll be ready when he wants to mend the woodshed."
"I don"t want to pick over any crooked old nails," proclaimed Joel, loudly, and knocking his heels against the pantry door. "I sh"d think Deacon Brown might have given us some good ones."
"For shame, Joel!" said Polly, hurrying across the floor with the pile of dishes; "it"s fine of him to give us these. And there are lots of good ones amongst "em."
"You told me not to say "lots," the other day," said Joel, with a sharp look out of his black eyes to see if Polly would relent.
"So I did," she cried, and the color flew over her cheek. "Dear me, it is so hard not to say things that you don"t like to hear other people say."
"Well, I don"t want to pick over old rusty nails," said Joel, ignoring this remark, "and it"s real mean, Polly Pepper, to make me, when I want to go and play!" And he kicked his heels worse than ever.
"I don"t make you," said Polly, pouring the hot water into the dish-pan and dashing in the soap, "but I shouldn"t think it was nice to go out to play right after breakfast. You might work an hour, and then you"d enjoy the play all the better."
"I"d enjoy the play now. And a whole hour, too!" cried Joel, in a dudgeon. "Why, Polly Pepper! a whole hour!"
"That"s right, Davie," said Polly, smiling brightly at him, as the little fellow ran out into the woodshed. Then she began to sing, without looking at Joel.
"A whole hour," shouted Joel. But Polly kept a cold shoulder toward him, running up and down in a merry song till a little bird outside the window trilled away as hard as he could, to keep her company.
"A whole hour--" Joel ran up and pulled her dress. "It"s as mean as it can be to make me work a whole hour, Polly Pepper!"
"Chee--chee--chee," called the little bird, and away Polly sang, splashing the dishes up and down in the hot soap-suds, till the old kitchen seemed full of merry bustle. Joel regarded her closely for two or three minutes, and then went slowly out.
David was up on top of the wood bin in the shed, and tugging at the box of nails that Ben had put on one of the beams.
"I can"t get it down," he said. "Come help me, Joel, do."
But Joel kicked his feet on the woodshed floor. So little David gave another pull at the box, wavered, and clutched wildly at the air, and before Joel could speak, came tumbling down, and after him, the heavy box, spilling the nails as it fell. He lay quite still, and Joel only stopped to take one look.
"Oh, Polly, Dave"s killed, I guess," he screamed, rushing into the kitchen, his face working fearfully.
Polly stopped her song in mid-air, and turned quite white. "Oh, no, I guess not," she said with a gasp, as she saw his face.
Then she remembered Phronsie. "Come out here, Joe," and she gently pushed him out into the little entry.
"I guess I"ll go, too," said Phronsie, who had been humming a soft refrain to Polly"s song, and laying down the snarl carefully in Mamsie"s big work-basket she went softly out after them.
"Now, Joel," Polly was saying out of white lips, "don"t you scream. Think of Phronsie, and--"
"What is it, Polly?" asked Phronsie"s soft voice.
"O dear me! What shall I do!" Polly turned. "Phronsie dear, you mustn"t come now." Joel had sunk down and covered his face with his hands, trying not to scream. "Go right back to your chair, Polly says so. Be a good girl, Pet." She looked straight into the blue eyes wide with astonishment at being sent back.
"Please let me, Polly," begged the little girl.
"No," said Polly, firmly, "Mamsie wouldn"t like it. Go back, Phronsie, and shut the door."
Phronsie turned without a word and went slowly back, and as Polly seized Joel"s hand and sped into the woodshed, they could hear the kitchen door shut, and knew that she had gone back to her chair.
When Polly and Joel reached little David, Joel was beyond words, and he fell down and flung his arms around the little figure. Davie stirred and moaned. "Help me lift him up, Joe," cried Polly, hoa.r.s.ely.
"I couldn"t get the nails," said David, "and then they all spilled. I"m sorry, Polly," and he opened his eyes and looked up into her white face.
When Joel saw that David could speak, he gave a great gasp. "It was my fault," he sobbed.